A man from Butterfield, Minnesota, has been charged with felony offenses after allegedly shooting down a drone that was flying above a chicken processing plant.
According to the charges, Travis Winters, 34, used a shotgun to shoot down a drone valued at $1,900. The drone was being flown by Eric Goldberg, a 32-year-old from Oregon, who told Winters and one other man that he was attempting to get photographs of chickens being “slaughtered” because of the coronavirus pandemic and the supply chain issues that have led to stories of wasted animal products throughout the country.
Winters was charged with criminal damage to property and reckless discharge of a firearm in city limits for allegedly sniping Goldberg’s drone above Butterfield Foods. Winters was not an employee of Butterfield Foods, but he did contract work for the company through T&K Trucking.
Winters said he disagreed with “quite a bit” of the prosecution’s case. The complaint filed with the court states that Winters admitted to shooting the drone.
Butterfield Foods was the subject of a Humane Society investigation five years ago. The organization claimed that Butterfield Foods did not properly stun chickens before slaughter, and many birds were alive when they were placed in hot water to remove their feathers. Butterfield Foods has maintained that it abides by humane practices with oversight by government observers.
Producers have been struggling to match the market’s demands during the pandemic as processing plants close because of coronavirus outbreaks, and restaurants remain shuttered because of stay-at-home orders. Dairy producers in some parts of the country have been forced to pour out excess milk while chicken producers in Deleware have had to slaughter two million birds that did not make it to market.
